What is eating my ficus?

[luvinthemountains]

Having noticed a soft spot and splitting bark on the trunk of my ficus salicaria, I decided to investigate. What I discovered was an apparent infestation of dozens of glassy, clear worms, and the bark was dead down to the heartwood, which was coated with a dark brown film that I suspect is the dead cambium.

I used a sharp knife to cut the dead bark away, and found this had affected a large area of trunk - about half the circumference. It does not seem to have progressed below the soil line. My concern now is how to make sure they die and do not overrun the entire tree. Ideas?

This photo was taken midway through cutting back to live bark.

 

[cbroad]

I'm not positive but they are probably there feeding just on the decaying matter, I've seen similar maggots around here. Get rid of the rot and they'll probably disappear.

The hardest part is digging out the rot and scraping back to live wood and then getting the ficus to heal the wound; ficus can be reluctant to completely heal big wounds.

 

[luvinthemountains]

I'm not positive but they are probably there feeding just on the decaying matter, I've seen similar maggots around here. Get rid of the rot and they'll probably disappear.

The hardest part is digging out the rot and scraping back to live wood and then getting the ficus to heal the wound; ficus can be reluctant to completely heal big wounds.

I did wonder about that. They look similar to fungus gnat larvae. Maybe it started as a fungus attack. I sprayed the wound with 3% hydrogen peroxide and there was quite a lot of fizzing going on.

Now to eradicate fungus gnats from the grow tent, I am planning to drench all my tropicals with b. thuringiensis, followed by permethrin a few days later. Does that sound appropriate?

 

[cbroad]

Now to eradicate fungus gnats from the grow tent,

If you know you have that problem, then they're probably the larvae from the gnats. Usually you get them when the soil is staying too moist, and that could be the cause of the rot also.

Get this:


it's for mosquitoes but is also good to sprinkle on the soil surface to kill fungal gnat larvae. It's also BT. And by the way, be careful with permethrin if you have pets.

EDIT: realized you had already said something about BT and I edited reply

Good luck!

 

[luvinthemountains]

Yeah, the gnats are an issue. I bought the mosquito dunks...look like donuts. I will just smash them before dissolving in water.

Good tip on the permethrin. I will probably drench with that in the driveway to avoid any problems with animals.

Thanks for the advice!

 

[cbroad]

Maybe where gloves and wash your hands well afterwards if you're going to be touching pets. I may have learned that the hard way...

 

[Forsoothe!]

After you get down to solid wood, make a solution of 15 to 20% household bleach in water and apply it to the wound and connected bark every couple weeks with a brush, or spray it on. It will kill pathogens and give the area a chance to heal. Keep doing it a few times a year and the wood will whiten up nicely. It will also raise the pH, so just apply the minimum to wet the surface.